Power tools are conventionally used in the installation of anchors in substantially rigid materials. One well-known use of these power tools is in the installation process of expansion anchors in concrete, masonry, and rock. When such an anchor is placed, a power tool is used in a rotary hammer manner to impart combined rotational and axial impact blows to a particular area of the material. This is typically accomplished with a rotary hammer drill using a drilling bit structured for drilling in such material. When a sufficiently sized hole has been drilled out of the rigid material, the rotary hammer drill is set aside and the anchor is placed and set. The common practice within the construction industry for placing and setting the anchor is to use a handheld hammer and setting tool to push the expansion anchor into the drilled hole and then drive the expansion slug back into the expansion portion of the anchor by placing one end of the setting tool on the anchor and manually hammering the other side of the setting tool. This is a labor-intensive effort and is somewhat dangerous and difficult especially when attempting to install anchors overhead off of ladders. This can be especially difficult if the anchor is being placed in a ceiling portion as the need to look up can impair an operator's balance and orientation.
As mentioned above, expansion anchor setting tools are the most widely used tools for setting expansion anchors. They are typically constructed of metal with a handle that has a striking portion and a setting portion at opposing ends. U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,660 (“the '660 patent”) describes such an expansion anchor setting tool with the addition of a rubberized portion for protection of the hand while hammering. However, although the tool disclosed in the '660 patent may help prevent the striking of an operator's hand, it still requires the operator to set aside the rotary hammer drill, balance themselves, and manually hammer the expansion anchor to set it. In addition to the physical demands imparted by this manual hammering, it can be extremely difficult to set such anchors where the working area is constrained and limited area exists for the workman to both hold the setting tool and swing the hammer.
Additionally, to achieve a high quality of attachment of the expansion anchor to the concrete or masonry structure, it is necessary that the expansion slug be adequately driven into the expansion region of the anchor. This is necessary to assure the performance margins of the anchor are attained. Such margins can only be achieved when the expansion slug is properly positioned. Each size of expansion anchor requires a setting tool specifically designed to drive the expansion slug to the proper depth to achieve the performance margins. Larger expansion anchors require considerably more energy and force to properly position the expansion slug in the expansion anchor. This increases the difficulty of installation in difficult conditions and anchor failure often occurs because of inadequate installation.
Therefore, as already stated, the movement and placement of the expansion slug is necessary for the proper performance of the expansion anchor. The current practice and method of installing expansion anchors is physically exhausting and dangerous, especially when accomplished while working from ladders or overhead, the location where this type of anchor is most often used. These and other problems in the conventional art are addressed by embodiments of the present invention.